Vipassana Meditation

I survived the 10-day meditation course! For me, each day was a struggle. If you ask me whether the experience was worth 10 days of agony - the answer is possibly. It was definitely a surreal experience and one of the most difficult things I have ever done.

Each day began with a 4am morning call and a whole day of meditation sessions, either in group or individually.  In the afternoon, we were given the opportunity to schedule private meetings with the instructors for any questions or concerns that we may have. This would be the only time that we were allowed to speak.   The night ended with a recorded lecture which teaches us new meditation techniques and philosophies. As for daily meals, we were served vegetarian food twice a day, which were actually quite delicious. But my stomach had trouble holding in all the curries. Since our last full meal of the day ended at noon, I was usually hungry by bedtime. For me, the most difficult part was the lack of stimulation. There was no talking, no reading, no outside contact, I felt like a POW. However, I do understand the objective of these regulations.  The goal of meditation is to shut off the outside world, examine your internal self, and ultimately reach enlightenment.  But personally, I was not seeking enlightenment, but to experience the serenity and to learn the techniques.

A few things that I did gain from this experience:
1. An awareness to my physical body
By the 3rd day of meditation, I started to feel my fingertips pumping with blood circulation. By the 5th day, I became aware the movement of the little hair on my upper lip as I breathed in and out.

2. Flashback of moments from our wedding
It reminded me of how lucky I am to have E in my life. I imagined reuniting with E and Moo after this long retreat. 10 days can be a long time especially when I was cut off from all communications.

3. Memories of my dear grandma who passed away six years ago
She passed away in Taipei when I was living in Calgary. The last time I visited, she was clearly getting old but still seemed healthy. I remember my aunt telling me that it would likely be the last time I see my grandma. But I brushed it off, thinking that she would still be there when I visit again the following year. Unfortunately, my aunt was right. I never got a proper chance to say goodbye to my grandma. But memories of her were still clear in my mind as if she was with me throughout the course.

4. A sudden let-go of the grudge that I was holding toward a certain landlord from the past
When I was living in Calgary, I went through an awful experience with a landlord who was unemployed and just looking to make some quick cash from students.  Let's just say many clauses were broken in the lease and it almost ended in a law suit. For years, I held a grudge toward her. The mentioning of her name enraged me. But for some odd reason, that anger disappeared by the end of the meditation course.

5. A shovel comes handy in heavy snow
After 10 days, I was all meditated out and looking forward to going home. But there was no sight of my car in the parking lot.  I went around in search of my car and then spent more than 1 hour to dig it out with a shovel!

My accomplishment on the 10th day 

Adios Chile

Following the Habitat build, I returned to Santiago with my teammates and met up with Sa & Ed, who have now traveled from Brazil to Chile. The last few days in the city was a blur as I tried to cram in as much sightseeing as possible.

The Habitat group ended the build with a R&R day trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, the coastal cities near the Greater Santiago area. Again, we hired La Bicycletta Verde for the tour and spent the morning wandering through the meandering streets of Valparaiso. The city has a long history and was once the most important seaport in South America, prior to the construction of Panama Canal. There are 2 distinct features in Valparaiso, graffiti and hills. The city has up to 45 cerros or hills that are accessible by short-haul gondolas. Colourful graffiti and adorable stray cats are at every corner. However, we were also told that certain parts of the city can be sketchy and dangerous at nighttime.

One of the cerros in Valparaiso

A cat chilling on the ledge

Leaping with my teammates in Vina del Mar

 The next day, I said my farewell to the Habitat team and moved in with Sa & Ed to a 2-bedroom apartment in Santiago. As always, we greeted one another with a big hug. It is always nice to see good friends in a different city.  We visited the trendy neighbourhood of Bella Vista, celebrated Theo's birthday at a local bar, joined a free tour around Centro, and went up Cerro San Cristobal. An interesting observation I had was the lack of information at the Museo Historical Nacional. The exhibit abruptly ended at 1980s, and I don't recall any mentioning of Pinochet or the military coup. According to our tour guide, this is likely still a controversial issue among Chileans.

Catedral of Santiago

View from Cerro San Cristobal

Traditional Chilean meal + jugo in Bella Vista

Farewell Habitat Chile

Today concludes our build with Habitat. The entire team was together at Cristobal's house. We spent the morning finishing the drywall and painting the house. Everyone was in high spirit with one common goal.  At the closing ceremony in the afternoon, Cristobal's parents expressed their sincere gratitude - a reminder to myself that this was an actual house we were building for a real family.

Finishing the exterior of the house

Break time, after a long day

The most memorable moments of this trip were the ones with the amazing people that I met - Cristobal and his family who strive for the best under difficult circumstances; the Habitat Chile staff who assisted with the building logistics and worked alongside of us; and of course, my fellow Habitat teammates from Canada. I met some amazing people - the 71 year old retired banker aka our daily entertainer, the Torontonian lady on her 7th Habitat trip, our fearless leader who tried his best to organize the activities despite his asthma attacks ... and the list goes on. Particularly, there are 2 individuals who are of great inspirations:

1. Theo lost her beloved husband to cancer a couple of years ago, but today lives her life with tremendous strength and a positive attitude.  We shared a teary moment on the work site when she told me about the best weeks of her life with her husband at the hospital and the surprise Valentine's Day present she received from him after the funeral. In the dusty air, I could feel the love that they shared. Since a dear friend/extended family member of ours is also going through similar chemo treatments for cancer, I was hoping to get some suggestions from Theo.  But the only advice she could offer was to continuously show our love and support for this friend.

2. At our last team dinner, Marty gave an inspirational speech accompanied with souvenirs of pieces of rubbles - The tale of Mother Teresa and finding our own Calcutta.  The message was that this 2-week Habitat trip may not be long enough to make a significant change, but this is only the beginning, the catalyst. Charity work continues at home. Marty is a perfect example - an active volunteer in his community, from Big Brother to Humane Society. He also recently ran for city council in his municipality. As a young person, Marty has the aspirations and the sincerity that are greatly admirable.

The Earthquake Zone

El Monte is a small municipality about 20 km from Melipilla.  2 of our build sites are located in this neighbourhood, where the houses were severely damaged by the Feb 27 earthquake. Our task today was to finish the living room addition to the house owned by an 80 year old man named Oscar.  Habitat Chile is presently working on 15 houses in this area as part of the rebuilding efforts.  Some of the repairs and additions were started last month in partnership with Delta Airlines volunteers.

In this house, Oscar lives with his 3 grown sons. There are holes and gaps in the roof. A shower stall is located outside the main house and can be accessed through the backyard. A toilet is located separately in an outhouse. Many of my teammates felt that the building approach was rather piecemeal, as we were adding a new living room to the existing dilapidated structure.

The kitchen/dining room of Oscar's existing house

 It is difficult to imagine how 4 grown men live together in a small house of such shabby conditions.  In comparison, Cristobal's house is much nicer. On the other hand, Oscar's house is still equipped with running water and sewage network, and is by no means a slum. It is all relative.

The exterior of the house with the new addition

An egg vendor going door-to-door in the neighbourhood

The Weekend Around Melipilla

The team had the weekend off for sightseeing.  Because of our remote location, the activities were limited.  On Saturday, we visited a cheese factory that was partner with the dairy farm where we were staying. Then we spent the rest of the morning in Pomaire, a pottery village very close to Melipilla.

Milking a Chilean cow - yeeks!

A craft shop in Pomaire

On Sunday, Habitat Chile hired La Bicycletta Verde, a tour operator based in Santiago, for a winery tour.  The destination was the Chocalan winery located in the coastal part of Maipo Valley. We biked up and down the hills through the vineyards, then sampled different types of wine and had a barbeque lunch overlooking the vineyards. It was a relaxing afternoon with great food and beautiful view.

Chocalan winery

Getting ready for the bike ride

Wine tasting at Chocalan

The winery building was recently constructed.  The cedar wood combined with large windows gave the interiors a bright and airy feel. It was quite a contrast to the Habitat houses that we have been working on. I suppose this is the disparity in wealth that is present everywhere.

Chile, Un Solo Corazon

Remembrance Day in Canada - an on-site cultural exchange. We started the day by handing out poppies to our Chilean friends and explained the significance of Remembrance Day. This was followed by 2 minutes of silence at 11am, which again the entire group participated in. As a token of friendship, the team gave Christobal's family a large Canadian flag.

Teleton, another local charity group was also on site to work on the house. They were conducting interviews with Christobal and filiming the building progress as part of the promotional material for the fundraising.At lunchtime, the 2 grouops shared food and dined together. The elderly man from our team said grace. It was a nice moment, but reminded me of the Norfolk County Christmas dinner, where the mayor said grace in fort of hundreds of employees.  This would rarely happen in a diverse city like Toronto.

Cristobal getting ready for the interview

Cristobal played with the computer as his mom was trying to feed him

Our tasks today included removing the cement in the living room for new tiles and plastering the walls in Cristobal's bedroom. The progress was unfortunately not as productive as I had hoped. However, it was still a meaningful day.  We interacted with the family and were included in the filming. At the end of the day, our Chilean friends taught us to say "Chile, un solo corazon" - Chile, only one heart! Canadians and Chileans, we were in this project together.  Our heart was with Cristobal's family and our goal was to complete this house!

With the fellow Habitat teammates

Our attempts at removing the cement in the living room

The shared backyard with Cristobal's grandma who lives next door

The rooster in the backyard

Santiago / Melipilla, Chile

I arrived in Santiago yesterday to begin my volunteer trip with Habitat for Humanity. The 4 hour flight from Lima to Santiago felt extremely long. I was sleep deprived and had severe stomach issues. The rain in Santiago casted a gloomy outlook on the city. I started to miss my travel buddies (E was on his way to Sao Paulo and Sa and Ed to Rio De Janeiro).

At the hotel, I met my Habitat team. It was a group of 13 Canadians of diverse backgrounds and ages. We were staying at the Windsor Hotel by Cerro Santa Lucia, a hill located in the centre of Santiago. Later in the evening, we had a team meeting and found out the details of our work site and accommodation. The introduction to our build and teammates was not exactly well organized. Most of us were still jetlagged and just wanted to get some rest.

The next morning, we packed a van and were driven to the build site in Melipilla, a small town about 2 hours southwest of the city. Another van dropped off our luggages at a farm in a remote secluded area where we will be staying for the next 2 weeks.

The farm where we stayed during the build

Snoopy, 1 of the 4 dogs at the farm

The house that we were working on belong to Cristobal and his family. Christobal is a 6 year old boy who was born without arms and with deformed legs.  The goal is to retrofit the house and to make it more accessible. We were told that Cristobal is actually quite well-known around Santiago as the poster child of another charity campaign called Teleton.  He has the sweetest smile and is very skilled in using his feet to operate his wheelchair or even to play video games. He roamed around in his wheelchair, as active as any other little boy.  He was just living his life like a normal kid.

The house of Cristobal and his family

The smiley Cristobal and I